Lisa Kroll has an edge on the competition when she’s estimating a job: she knows her excavating equipment is fast and reliable.
Lisa and Tom Kroll started Kroll’s Excavating at New Richmond, Wisconsin, in 1988. Sixteen years later, they’re running four crews on a typical day in one of the hottest construction markets in North America. “I don’t run equipment very much any more,” Lisa says. “Basically I go out all day, look at jobs and do estimates. I usually run a couple crews, too. Tom runs the job he’s on. Another guy, who does all the finish grading, runs that crew.”
New Richmond is about a 40-minute drive east of Minneapolis-St. Paul. St. Croix County, named for the river that marks the state border, is the fastest growing county in Wisconsin. Rolling, scenic farm fields are fast being converted to homes for commuters anxious for a taste of country living.
“We could buy 80 acres for $150,000 a couple years ago; now you’re talking a million dollars,” Lisa says.
Kroll’s Excavating didn’t have much competition in the early days. Today, the Minnesota market is out of land and drying up, she says, and contractors are coming across the river to compete for work in Wisconsin.
“All kinds of guys are around now that we’ve never seen before,” Lisa says. “We are staying busy because we’ve got a good reputation.”
Speed and reliability are crucial parts to achieving that kind of reputation. The typical excavator’s job in this district requires digging a foundation, putting in a sewer system and building a 150-foot driveway on a two-acre site on a tight schedule and at a reasonable price.
Lisa says, “Customer support is important. If your machine breaks down, you’re behind a day with that crew. Nobody wants that.”
A Kobelco SK250-LC and a Kobelco ED150 Blade Runner are the two main excavators for this Wisconsin contractor. Bulldozers, a backhoe, skid loaders and a compactor support the main excavators.
“We’ve tried several machines, and Kobelco seems to be the fastest. They’re also extremely reliable,” Lisa says. “It saves you money on labor, if you have a bigger machine or a faster machine.”
Reliability and speed
Reliability is extremely important. Among other things, it means her estimated time for completing the job will be met. That kind of performance generates customer support.
“To be honest with you, we’ve never had one break down,” she says, referring to 14 years of experience with Kobelco equipment. Normal usage for their equipment is 1,000 hours a year.
Lisa’s estimates also reflect the fact that her excavators are fast. She says, “We try to bid lower than other contractors. If you have a bigger machine, or a quicker machine, you can do more jobs and that’s how you keep busy.”
The Kobelco SK250 and ED150 both are powerful, quick machines.
“We could bring the SK250 out and get probably twice as much done as a guy that has a 315 Cat,” Lisa says. “We could definitely out-work him. We could probably double his productivity with that machine. With a good operator, we most certainly could. A lot of guys around here have those 315 Cats. It will take them all day to dig a basement with it, if they’re lucky. We could have the basement dug, the driveway prepped and be out of there by 4 p.m., while he’s still swinging dirt.”
The ED150, purchased in 2003, also has proven itself on the job as a high productivity machine.
“We don’t generally use the ED150 to dig basements, but it will. It’s a real fast, efficient machine. We use it a lot for backfilling, for additions and for smaller jobs. It’s a little smaller, but yet it’s quick and it’s real accurate to get around things.”
Handling a quick-response excavator takes a good operator.
Lisa says, “I don’t put the rookies in a Kobelco. It’s way too much machine for them. A really good operator can run them, but a marginal operator prefers the Caterpillar or something slower. The Kobelcos are fast!”
“You can put an over-sized bucket on (the Kobelco SK250), load it up and swing to the side. The Caterpillar will stall, the Kobelco will handle it. Fuel economy is much better. Those Mitsubishi motors use less fuel.
“I’ve never heard anybody complain about Kobelco’s seat. Sometimes they sit in those things for 12 hours, so comfort is important. Another thing is the initial pricing .Kobelco is more reasonable.”
Excavator X Dozer
Kroll’s Excavating is one of the first contractors to use Kobelco’s innovative cross between an excavator and dozer, the ED150 Blade Runner. They were doing jobs “that were a little more confined” and traded their Kobelco SK160 back to the dealer in exchange for the new and smaller ED150.
The ED150 is an excavator that will dig and lift more than a 14-ton class machine, and has a wide variety of attachments. It also is comparable to a mid-size dozer, with a 10-foot, 8-inch blade.
“The six-way blade is nice. It tilts and angles, it has up and down,“ Lisa says. “We use it for clearing land. It’s handy because it’s small enough to get into some wooded places where people want to save trees.”
It’s also a zero swing radius machine, able to dig a vertical wall 16-feet, 8-inches deep beside an existing foundation, then swing the load safely out of the way.
“It’s a more compact machine, because it’s got that swing-radius design,” Lisa says. “You don’t have people banging into things with the counterweight. It’s really well-balanced.”
Lisa says the ED150 is being used a lot by her crews. On smaller jobs, the crew doesn’t need to bring a backhoe and dozer or skid-steer. The ED150 also is easy to transport between job sites, compared to a full size excavator or large dozer.
On the job, it can level a pile and crawl on top to excavate or load. Or, it can clean up a pile and make a spot for a truck to dump.
Service and support
Good service and support from her dealer are in the background to every estimate that Lisa does.
She describes her husband, Tom, as “a maintenance fanatic.” Tom runs his own planned maintenance program, based on manufacturer recommendations. Service records are kept on each machine. All items for routine maintenance are kept in stock. Oil is changed ahead of schedule. All the equipment is kept clean.
She describes customer support from the Kobelco dealership as “fantastic.” She adds, “I’ve been very happy with them over the years. They’ve been very good to us.”
It’s about an hour’s drive to the dealership. Lisa says, “We don’t go down there very much. We don’t really need much.”
There was an exception in June 2004, when six pieces of equipment came due for an oil change at about the same time. Lisa asked her dealer for a little backup.
“He sent up the service truck and serviced the equipment on the job site, so we didn’t have to move them. I thought that was very nice, with hardly any notice. That’s the first time that somebody’s come up and serviced them for us.”